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Middle East/Palestine
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On February 18, 2022, Al-Haq sent a communication to the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Clément N. Voule, to inform a thematic report on trends, developments and challenges to overcome. the ability of civil society organizations to access resources, including foreign funding, to be presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) at its 50th session. The communication offers Special Rapporteur Voule several recommendations regarding the Israeli authorities’ designation of six NGOs as terrorist organizations. The submission suggests several measures to be taken by the Israeli authorities, the EU, third states and special rapporteurs in order to protect the activities of civil society organisations.
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On February 19, 2022, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), in response to the growing manifestations of gender-based violence in Gaza, called on the Palestinian President to take the following actions: pass the Protection Against domestic violence; harmonize national laws with international conventions; to fulfill the obligations of the Palestinian Authority under CEDAW and to ensure that all legislation and laws conform to the principle of justice and non-discrimination.
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On February 23, 2022, Al-Haq launched its report entitled “Cultural apartheid, Israel’s erasure of Palestinian heritage in Gaza”. The report builds on an investigation by London-based research firm Forensic Architecture using cutting-edge technology and open-source techniques to reconstruct one of the Strip’s most significant archaeological sites. occupied Gaza. The report draws on Israel’s strategic bombardment of the Gaza coastline to illustrate the erasure of Palestinian cultural heritage and the denial of relevant human rights.
Israel
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On February 21, 2022, Peace Now published a joint Alter action with Bikom, Emek Shaveh and Ir Amim opposing the expansion of the national park into the basin of the Old City of Jerusalem. As a result of the proposed expansion, Palestinian neighborhoods will be cut off from the Old City and residential development in these communities will be further limited.
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On February 22, 2022, B’tselem reported that the Israeli army had blocked three entrances to the village of Deir Nizam in the Ramallah district to residents on December 1, 2021. The West Bank village was closed for 50 days, invaded by l Israeli army 17 several times while schoolchildren were arrested and residents harassed.
Europe
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On February 20, 2022, the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) was launched (registered as a European Citizens’ Initiative on September 8, 2021). He called on the European Commission to ban European Union (EU) business with settlements in illegally occupied territories around the world, including the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In detail, the initiative calls for the adoption of an EU law prohibiting the import into the EU of products from illegal settlements and the export of EU products to these territories, in order to preserve the integrity of the internal market and to avoid aiding or assisting in the maintenance of such illegal situations.
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On February 22, 2022, Human Rights Watch became a signatory to the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) adhering to the call to ban products to and from Israeli settlements. In addition, HRW said in the statement issued on this occasion that the transfer of a civilian population by an occupying power to militarily occupied territory violates the Fourth Geneva Convention and constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court. (ICC).
North America
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On February 23, 2022, Human Rights Watch published a 49-page report on older people at heightened risk of abuse during armed conflict in several conflict situations between 2013 and 2021. All parties to armed conflict should put end abuse against the elderly and facilitate humanitarian assistance to elderly people in need. The UN Security Council should ensure that the UN responds to the need for enhanced protection of older civilians in armed conflict.
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On February 24, 2022, the Columbia University Center for Palestine Studies in New York will celebrate Gil Hochberger’s work “Becoming Palestine”.
The United Nations
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On February 18, 2022, representatives of the Humanitarian Country Team in Palestine, including UN agencies and international and Palestinian NGOs, met with the Salem family in the occupied Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem. The family of 12, including six children and elderly mother, Fatima Salem – who are all Palestinian refugees – face eviction in March from their 70-year-old family home. The United Nations has repeatedly called for an end to forced evictions and demolitions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
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On 22 February 2022, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency announced that the Kingdom of Belgium had advanced its annual contribution of €7 million to the 2022 program budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to support Agency services. This crucial and flexible funding is part of an ongoing multi-year agreement between the Kingdom of Belgium and UNRWA, totaling €21 million between 2021 and 2023.
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On February 23, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, briefed the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. Wennesland said the destabilizing deterioration of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory continues in the absence of political solutions that would “reset the trajectory”. The Special Coordinator further underscored the need for “firm action” that will allow Israelis and Palestinians to embark on the path of constructive negotiations. “Nothing can replace a legitimate political process that will resolve the fundamental issues that fuel the conflict,” he said.
This bulletin provides information on recent and upcoming activities of civil society organizations affiliated with the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The Committee and the Division for Palestinian Rights of the United Nations Secretariat provide the information “as is” without warranty of any kind, and accept no responsibility for the accuracy or reliability of the information contained in the websites. linked in the newsletter. .
